Physics-based recalibration method of cup anemometers

Cup anemometer is the most widely used instrument in the natural environment. However, the accuracy of cup anemometer is not robust due to their inertial structures. In this study, the equation of motion (EOM) relating rotational motion of the cup rotor to aerodynamic force is investigated to reveal the cause of measurement error of cup anemometer. A new methodology is proposed to recalibrate cup anemometer based on theoretical analysis of the dynamic response of the cup rotor and random process theory. The unknown dynamic coefficients of the EOM are quantified by the numerical method using measurement results from inertial and non-inertial anemometers. A detailed example is presented to demonstrate the efficiency of this new method in which coefficients of the EOM are quantified from laboratory and field data. Both mean wind speed and the entire time history could be recalibrated using this new method. Comparing with the non-inertial anemometer results, the improvement rate of the recalibrated cup anemometer results is 29%–99%.